Log in

Pompei Shoes

Theatrical Footwear

  • Home
  • About us
  • Cinema
  • TV
  • Theatre
  • Publications
  • Oscars
  • Contact us
You are here: Home / Publications / “Due passi tra le stelle”

“Due passi tra le stelle”

July 22, 2016

Cristophe Lambert
Cristopher Lambert, The Sicilian (1987) – Directed by Michael Cimino, Costume design by Wayne A. Finkelman

In the days when the stars were more important than the films they appeared in and the arrogant vanity of actresses could impose their wills on the most difficult great producers by screaming scenes and faints on of set, it often happened that shoes designed by great costume  designers were launched with violence and ended up on the heads of the poor directors. No matter the part – it could be the Empress Katherine of Russia or the terrible Messalina – the shoes were always the same because the stars loved to wear shoes which hid their large feet, the only remaining sign of their healthy backwoods origins or because they showed off their legendary legs.

Hollywood loved two kinds of womens’shoes. One was the classic high-heeled pump which always looked good and gave a certain touch of class in spite of its inappropriateness in scenes of romantic elopement or when the heroine was escaping from a criminal. The second was the thin strappy sandal always to be seen on Marylin Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Greta Garbo and Bette Davis. These sandals were meant to indicate that the star had seduction on her mind and thy were ideal for scenes of balls or big parties. The screen beauties rarely forsook these “safe” sandals and when they did, it was a memorable event. Just think of the embroidered satin sandals worn by Greta Garbo in “Wild Orchid” or the jewel studded snakes wound around her bare legs as Mata Hari. Garbo’s charm was multiplied when she dared to wear tennis shoes and socks in “The Single Standard” and she was magnificent in the famous Cecil Beaton photograph where her long feet were clad in black rubber galoshes. And by the way, she had smaller feet than Lauren Bacall and Ingrid Bergman.

Anita Ekberg, La dolce vita (1960) – directed by Federico Fellini, costume design by Piero Gherardi
Richard Gere, Cotton Club (1984) – Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, costume design by Milena Canonero
Jane Fonda, Barbarella (1968) – Directed by Roger Vadim, costume design by Giulio Cortellacci
Laura Antonelli, L’innocente (1976) – Directed by Luchino Visconti, costume design by Piero Tosi
Alain Delon, Un amour de Swann (1984) – Directed by Volker Schlöndorff, costume design by Yvonne Sassinot de Nesle
Robert Redfor, Out of Africa (1985) – Directed by Sidney Pollack, costume design by Milena Canonero

Other shoes were filling the dreams of the female audiences and, within a few years, were launched on the mass market. The gipsy sandals laced up to the knee worn by Rita Hayworth in the part of Carmen; the cow boy boots which Marylin Monroe wore with such touching femininity in Niagara; the riding boots which immediately demonstrated that Grace Kelly and other elegant and cool blondes were ladies of class and wealth and then the ankle-strap shoes which were a sign of steamy perdition.

(…) Shoes made a stealthy entrance into the world of cinema as a minor element, but they soon demonstrated that they were able to  characterize not only an epoch but also a personality, to built a star, to create in the audience the desire to imitate, the deside to make  themselves more important by wearing the same shoes as their screen idols.

Therefore, it is right to dedicate a rich and ironic exhibition to shoes, an exhibition which can draw a map of the fantastic path of the history of the cinema and its stars.

Natalia Aspesi,  introduction to the catalogue of the exhibition Due passi tra le stelle: 50 anni di Cinema e Teatro
raccontati da oltre 200 paia di “scarpe famose”,
organised by A.N.C.I. on the occasion of MICAM MODACALZATURA
and  featuring POMPEI shoes – Bologna, September 4 – 7, 1987

Photos by Antonio Guccione

Filed Under: Publications

Catalogue

Footwear Sanitization

Publications

Sandals

November 7, 2022

Follow us on facebook instagram twitter

Rome

Via degli Olmetti, 36
00060 Formello (RM)
Phone +39 06 90400215
Fax +39 06 4874392
E-mail: pompei@pompeishoes.it

Neuilly-sur-Seine

191-195, Avenue Charles de Gaulle
92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine / France
Tel.: +33 (0)1 73094323
E-mail: pompei@pompeichaussures.fr

Menu

  • Cookie policy
  • Privacy policy
  • Copyright
  • Site credits

Copyright © 2023 · Pompei 2000 Srl · P. IVA 04262031000

This website uses cookies to improve your navigation experience. You can learn about our privacy policy by clicking on "read more".I agree Read more
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Necessary Always Enabled

Non-necessary